Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, May 22:

The absence of local representatives at the municipalities hampered the collection of taxes and severely affected the operation of development projects in the current fiscal year, according to Municipality Management Division (MMD) of the Ministry of Local Development.

“The municipalities dependent on local development grants and the programmes operated under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction were not coordinated effectively,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, under secretary at the Ministry of Local Development. “Though procedural work to declare additional 41 municipalities has been completed but it has not been declared due to the Election Commission’s delay in giving its final nod,” said Thapaliya.

Only Pokhara and Kathmandu have landfill sites for dumping garbage but the management of wastage from others municipalities still needs to be solved. Under the MMD’s direction, all the municipalities worked for the preparation and implementation of the citizen’s charter and managed to include a help desk and inquiry room in the municipalities.

Sixteen municipalities made preparations to formulate the draft for the code of conduct, while 20 municipalities worked for the preparation of implementing earthquake resistant measures while constructing buildings. According to the progress reports submitted by 50 municipalities,

4,122 buildings were given permission for construction, 34,058 recommendations were made to meet public demand, 329 complaints and penalties were registered and Rs 198,000,000 was collected through various sources. Internally displaced people have pressurised the municipalities in Mahendranagar, Dang, Butwal, Nepalgunj, Gularia and Kanchanpur for the creation of favourable conditions. Due to limited resources at the municipalities, the growing demand for services in hospitals and schools have not been meet. These problems almost doubled this year. However, considerable progress was made in garbage collection and its transportation in the current fiscal year.